Nudies of your modern gear!!
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hardwareguy
Active Member
Modern is up for debate...but this Technics SA-DA10 from 2001 does have 3 digital inputs, numerous computers and was built for the DVD Audio craze that never materialized.
This was the last stand for Technics. The SA-DA20 that came shortly after is virtually identical.
100W/ch from 20-20k @ 0.09% THD+N
S/N was 113db
Claimed 2 dB of headroom
Forgive the pics...they were taken a while back with a lackluster camera.
Overall interior shot
These MOSFET hybrids run HOT but it doesn't seem to hurt them. (unlike the bipolar modules...those had a bad habit of going off the deep end.)
10,000uF on each rail...all four. This is a Class H+ amp, and there is an upper and lower rail voltage. Size matters, and for a 100W/ch amp in a sub $1K receiver, this is a lot of PSU. The big caps are "Master Ta Ke"....which means a bamboo separator and a shield. I have no clue what it does for the sound, it's probably quite minimal to non existent over a regular cap.
Now we see some more plausible reasons of why this thing sounds good when pushed hard....buss bars delivering rails to the thick film hybrids!
This transformer is probably 400-500VA. (assuming 400VA is the nameplate is to be trusted) They claimed its construction reduced stray fields....it's appears to be a plain EI core from the outside.
Digital input board + tuner. DD/DTS decoder is in a shielded box on the other side of this board. The big IC you see is an MCU that controls the digital board.
No component video....this came out about a year too early for that to be mainstream. It can bi-wire in surround mode and use the surround amps to bi-amp in 2ch mode.
This was the last stand for Technics. The SA-DA20 that came shortly after is virtually identical.
100W/ch from 20-20k @ 0.09% THD+N
S/N was 113db
Claimed 2 dB of headroom
Forgive the pics...they were taken a while back with a lackluster camera.
Overall interior shot
These MOSFET hybrids run HOT but it doesn't seem to hurt them. (unlike the bipolar modules...those had a bad habit of going off the deep end.)
10,000uF on each rail...all four. This is a Class H+ amp, and there is an upper and lower rail voltage. Size matters, and for a 100W/ch amp in a sub $1K receiver, this is a lot of PSU. The big caps are "Master Ta Ke"....which means a bamboo separator and a shield. I have no clue what it does for the sound, it's probably quite minimal to non existent over a regular cap.
Now we see some more plausible reasons of why this thing sounds good when pushed hard....buss bars delivering rails to the thick film hybrids!
This transformer is probably 400-500VA. (assuming 400VA is the nameplate is to be trusted) They claimed its construction reduced stray fields....it's appears to be a plain EI core from the outside.
Digital input board + tuner. DD/DTS decoder is in a shielded box on the other side of this board. The big IC you see is an MCU that controls the digital board.
No component video....this came out about a year too early for that to be mainstream. It can bi-wire in surround mode and use the surround amps to bi-amp in 2ch mode.
About 1/2 the pictures I've pulled up on this thing have shown the see-through top. I like the basic black that mine came with.
One thing the clear top would help with is to see what positions all the dip-switches are in. It's loaded with little adjustable switches that you can barely see in the picture, to configure output gain levels, or to set it as a buffered passive, and to configure the phono stage, which can be adjusted for a variety of different cartridge parameters. Its a really interesting unit that I haven't even begun to decipher, at least as far as the phono stage goes. I just set it to bypass most of what you can adjust beyond the basics, and it sounds wonderful. It is certainly the cleanest looking gear I've come across.
As for sound, I can not recommend it enough. It really outshines every other preamp I've had here.
TheAnt
Member
Rolling, rolling rolling. ...er this ain't Rawhide but almost.
This image taken during organ transplant operation of one Vincent SV-236MK.
Vincent use rather standard 12AX7 tubes originally, and this image were taken during a second swap. Where I actually had to do a rollback to the first replacements I had added.
This image taken during organ transplant operation of one Vincent SV-236MK.
Vincent use rather standard 12AX7 tubes originally, and this image were taken during a second swap. Where I actually had to do a rollback to the first replacements I had added.
TheAnt
Member
Got this Marantz SA1 yesterday. Just had to take a peek myself.
I yike with you.
Looks like quadruple circuits there, meaning fully balanced or is that for quad mode?
Anyhow, I read somewhere that some sound engineers had been unable to distinguish between SACD and regular CD. I am very suprised and wonder if they might have chosen the wrong career.
I remember one DAT tape of our last album, now DAT is just a tad better than one regular CD.
But the sound were a lot clearer. (Part of the difference were the reprocessing for the CD and what's not.) But the details that were there were so much clearer and some even lost on regular CD. Now with SACD @2.8224 MHz and 20-50k
So I wish you good luck with that one, and I really liked the use of copper. Best conductor except the extremely costly materials, gold and whats not.
JimmyNeutron
Super Member
I yike with you.
Looks like quadruple circuits there, meaning fully balanced or is that for quad mode?
Anyhow, I read somewhere that some sound engineers had been unable to distinguish between SACD and regular CD. I am very suprised and wonder if they might have chosen the wrong career.
I remember one DAT tape of our last album, now DAT is just a tad better than one regular CD.
But the sound were a lot clearer. (Part of the difference were the reprocessing for the CD and what's not.) But the details that were there were so much clearer and some even lost on regular CD. Now with SACD @2.8224 MHz and 20-50k
So I wish you good luck with that one, and I really liked the use of copper. Best conductor except the extremely costly materials, gold and whats not.
Yep. I just don't get it either. Sometimes I think I must have the best ears in the world because so many people claim they can't hear a difference in something that I clearly can. Of course they'll argue about placebo effects, blind A/B comparisons, measured tests, etc. just to try to prove that no difference can be heard. I've finally came to a conclusion many years ago. It's not that I'm imagining that I can hear something that others say I should not, but that many others can't hear what I can. There are as many bad ears out there as there are good ears. I just will not believe anyone when they tell me that SACD sounds no better than redbook CD. I have both formats and can tell you there is a huge difference. I will only believe it when I can or cannot hear it with my own ears. Everything else that is said is irrelevant. If those "engineers" could'nt tell the difference they need to either have their hearing checked, or make a substantial upgrade to their test equipment. :yes:
Jimmy
TheAnt
Member
Hello JimmyNeutron.
I think the very reason many of us end up audiophiles in fact is that we have this ability to hear the differences, and also when thing is not quite right.
As for blind tests I sure do hear differences with various sources, and there were a guy who swapped various connection cables, with the surprising result that his home made RCA data cable came out on top. He were pleased, since it proved he were onto something he found out himself. And yes with a great dampened listening room and very costly equipment I can clearly distinguish between CD and HDCD
Now as for what I got at home, it is perhaps only the best economy alternative for myself. (The Advance Acoustic does in fact assume all records that are inserted are HD, and have to spent some seconds identifying regular CD's)
but I can just about hear the difference between CD and HDCD at home.
I clearly hear differences between speaker cables and different tubes here, but I have tried many various RCA cables and have been unable to distinguish or hear any difference. So basically my system is not top notch enough to show a clear difference. So any such test also depend on the system we try it on.
I think the very reason many of us end up audiophiles in fact is that we have this ability to hear the differences, and also when thing is not quite right.
As for blind tests I sure do hear differences with various sources, and there were a guy who swapped various connection cables, with the surprising result that his home made RCA data cable came out on top. He were pleased, since it proved he were onto something he found out himself. And yes with a great dampened listening room and very costly equipment I can clearly distinguish between CD and HDCD
Now as for what I got at home, it is perhaps only the best economy alternative for myself. (The Advance Acoustic does in fact assume all records that are inserted are HD, and have to spent some seconds identifying regular CD's)
but I can just about hear the difference between CD and HDCD at home.
I clearly hear differences between speaker cables and different tubes here, but I have tried many various RCA cables and have been unable to distinguish or hear any difference. So basically my system is not top notch enough to show a clear difference. So any such test also depend on the system we try it on.
"T+A" Elektroakoustic A 1520 R
My US-spec Yamaha M-85 does not like the transformers I use here in Switzerland. Especially not in Class A mode. So I just recently bought this German amp. And, yes, the company is called "T+A"
180 watts into 8 ohms. 120,000 uF "reservoir capacity".
From their brochure:
The "ICA" technology incorporated in our amplifiers was developed by T+A with the aim of de-coupling the amplifier’s input stage from the current amplifier stage. The result has been a clear improvement in the overall sound and in the spatial characteristics. The new push- pull class A mirror current stage is designed to cope with high-level signal processing, and features transistors with a transient frequency of more than 300 MHz. The result is virtually bottomless dynamic reserves, a vast bandwidth and tremendous speed.
Never heard of them before moving here but the Swiss and Germans love them. Very fast. Very detailed. Much more refined than my old Acurus A200. But I do miss my Yamaha. I think it is actually a better match with my Maggies, to be honest.
Pic filched from the 'Net
Cheers from Basel
My US-spec Yamaha M-85 does not like the transformers I use here in Switzerland. Especially not in Class A mode. So I just recently bought this German amp. And, yes, the company is called "T+A"
180 watts into 8 ohms. 120,000 uF "reservoir capacity".
From their brochure:
The "ICA" technology incorporated in our amplifiers was developed by T+A with the aim of de-coupling the amplifier’s input stage from the current amplifier stage. The result has been a clear improvement in the overall sound and in the spatial characteristics. The new push- pull class A mirror current stage is designed to cope with high-level signal processing, and features transistors with a transient frequency of more than 300 MHz. The result is virtually bottomless dynamic reserves, a vast bandwidth and tremendous speed.
Never heard of them before moving here but the Swiss and Germans love them. Very fast. Very detailed. Much more refined than my old Acurus A200. But I do miss my Yamaha. I think it is actually a better match with my Maggies, to be honest.
Pic filched from the 'Net
Cheers from Basel
Attachments
Brett a
~◦●○o0o○●◦~
I had the hood off my Shanling last night to roll some tubes. I took some new photos. Here they are:
Yes, they put colored LED on the circuit boards just for fun I assume.
This is an internal tube buffer. It's got nice ceramic sockets. That's the motorized Alps volume pot in the foreground.
Yes, they put colored LED on the circuit boards just for fun I assume.
This is an internal tube buffer. It's got nice ceramic sockets. That's the motorized Alps volume pot in the foreground.
Attachments
Here's my Monarchy SM 70 Class A that I recently purchased. 25 watts. I love the warm, detailed sound of this little amp with my Altec 19's.
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Lee Harvey
Well-Known Member
I had the hood off my Shanling last night to roll some tubes. I took some new photos. Here they are:
Yes, they put colored LED on the circuit boards just for fun I assume.
This is an internal tube buffer. It's got nice ceramic sockets. That's the motorized Alps volume pot in the foreground.
What tubes are used in the Shanling? That's a great looking setup you have there. Love the floors. Still happy with the Focal's?
Brett a
~◦●○o0o○●◦~
I am totally in love with the Focals! I just want to stay home and listen to Sonny Rollins.
The tubes I just rolled in are a pair of vintage Phillips/Amperex 6922. They are so smooth and robust! I've been running the stock Electro Harmonix for the past 5 or so years. They sound real clean, but deliver a smaller soundstage than these Phillips.